“First time you’re seeing the ocean, I’m assuming?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s… kind of overwhelming.”
She smiled. “I can imagine. Or then again, maybe I can’t, because I’ve been flying since I was a fetus. How are you feeling, anyway? You looked like you got a really good lungful of that gas. We had you on oxygen for several hours.”
“Oh,” I murmured, my hand reaching instinctively for my throat. “I had no idea.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” She chuckled. “You were zonked.”
“What happened, exactly?” I asked, frowning as I tried to think. All I could recall was blacking out just before I was carried onto the ship. A huge chunk of my memory was missing.
“You were among the first we transported to safety,” she explained, leaning one shoulder against the wall. “We took you and as many others as we could fit in our ship to the closest beach—which was basically the closest patch of safe land that we could find.” She shuddered. “Honestly, you’re a much stronger person than me. I don’t know how I would ever survive in a jungle.”
“And did your backup arrive?” I asked, ignoring that last remark, as the reminder of home sent a spike of discomfort through me.
What was going to happen to it—our home? What would happen tousif, for some reason, we couldn’t return to it? I hoped the gas would clear soon enough so we could resume ourlives… but really, howcouldwe resume our lives after what happened yesterday? How could we ever go back to living the same way? What would be stopping more nomads from coming for us? Would there even be a jungle to return to?
I tried to pause the questions flooding my head, but it felt near impossible.
One step at a time.One step at a time.
“Yes, backup arrived,” Anna replied. “According to the last report, everyone’s in flight now. The other two ships are an hour or so behind us, so we’ll all arrive at close to the same time.”
“Arrive where?” I asked. My eyes fell on the silver “FI” emblem on her uniform.
She lifted off the wall and gestured to the door at the opposite end of the room. “Why don’t you come with me and you can see for yourself?”
Anna led me through a series of rooms and stopped when we reached a tall white door.
“This is the cockpit,” she explained.
She rapped her knuckles against the door. It swung open and she stepped inside, gesturing for me to follow.
My breath caught as I took in the broad, panoramic windshield that made up the ‘cockpit’s’ walls. If I had thought the windows back there had been overwhelming, this was… off the scale. If I focused my eyes on the distance, ignoring the myriad of glowing buttons on the control panels, and the two blue-capped men sitting before them, it felt like I was truly flying without wings, the churning depths an endless gangway.
I felt sick and staggered backward.
Anna caught my arm and guided me to a spare seat behindthe men. “There you go,” she said, chuckling. “This is normal for your first time flying. And you must be hungry, right?”
I frowned, considering the question. I had woken up with a blaring headache, which had prevented me from noticing my appetite. And my stomach still felt tied up in knots. But it would probably do me good to eat something.
I nodded.
She stooped down beside a small cabinet and pulled out a glass bottle of water, along with something square wrapped in tinfoil. She handed them both to me and took the seat next to me.
I peeled open the foil. It contained a sandwich filled with a thick, brown paste. I took a bite, the salty paste squishing pleasantly between my teeth, and decided that it wasn’t bad. When the food hit my stomach, it grumbled for more. I finished the whole thing. The bread was different from what we made back home; it was light and fluffy, rather than dense and grainy. It was tastier, but not as filling, so I requested another sandwich—which Anna brought over, along with a banana. I consumed them along with the water, which also had a strangely different taste than what I was used to.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” she replied.
I held her gaze for a moment. “And thanks for helping us back there. I… I don’t know what would’ve happened to us if you hadn’t arrived when you did.”
Well, I did know. The “Falcons” would’ve won the battle, plundered our resources, and left us to suffocate in the gas. What kind of human being could do that to another? I just couldn’t fathom what their mindset was. Even if I were desperate, I didn’t think I could stoop to such a vile act. And who knew, if they’d asked nicely, we might have even willingly shared some food with them!
“Oh, it’s what we do,” she replied, waving a dismissive hand, as if what they’d just done was nothing, before casually cracking open a bottle of water and taking a long swig.
I noticed then the thick, golden ring on her right thumb. It was oddly shaped for a ring; like half a circle. It curved around her outer thumb, and the edge that was closest to her palm was flattish. The curved part was etched with delicate letters that formed short words I didn’t understand:“Veni, vidi, vici.”
